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FDDI students' protest turn violent, college properties damaged

The students of Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) on Thursday boycotted classes and went on rampage, damaging college buses, cars, windowpanes, and properties at the campus, over the lack of clarity of their degrees. Around 500 students had gathered in the Institute for a peaceful protest. They turned violent when the FDDI officials could not give satisfactory answer over their degrees.

"There is uncertainty over degrees of over 4000 students of three academic years (2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15). The Institute promised us a valid degree at the time of admission but now they are giving us a diploma. The Institute and well as the government have unheard our grievances. Students are graduating without degrees. We are facing problems in jobs and employment. We were forced to take extreme step," said a student.

FDDI was established in 1986 under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. In 2012 the Institute signed an MoU with Mewar University to award degrees to students. The University Grant Commission (UGC), in September 2014, termed the FDDI's MoU with Mewar University invalid observing that a private university can't award degrees to students on behalf of an institute.

The FDDI officials said that they have constituted an internal inquiry into the matter. Sandeep Bhatia, deputy general manager FDDI, said it seems some people incited the students for violence. "We are looking at the CCTV footage to see how the protest turned violent. We have started an internal inquiry into the matter," he said. The Institute has not registered any FIR into the matter.

Bhatia said that the Commerce ministry is actively pursuing the matter. "The Ministry has drafted a bill to make FDDI an Institute of National Importance (INI), an autonomous body to award degrees. High level meetings are being held on a day-to-day basis. Things are moving in a positive direction," he said. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/FDDI-students-protest-turn-violent-college-properties-damaged/articleshow/51931856.cms